Are there tour guides readily available right off of the ship in the Mediterranean?

Question

At ports, such as Rome, Athens, and Izmir (Turkey)...are there tour guides waiting to book tours with passengers who have just stepped off of the ship?

I hate booking excursions through the cruise lines...and I am looking to book something "off the ship" the day we are in port (not before). I am extremely familiar with how things work in the Caribbean, but not so much in the Mediterranean...I was wondering if it is the same/similar.

Any info, other than that referring me to other message boards, is greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

Answer 1

I have been on two cruises to the Mediterranean so I'll explain how it was when I was there a year or so ago.

For Rome you need to know that the cruise ship port, Civitavechia, is a good hour or more from Rome by bus, train or taxi.  So its not like you can walk off the ship and find tours of Rome.  You can if you are adventurous and want to take a chance book your own Rome tours on line and then take a taxi, bus or train to Rome.  BUT, since Rome is a long way off you had best know what you will be doing, how long it will take, and also give yourself plenty of extra time to get back to the port, or you will miss your ship.  That is the one place where I would not recommend going on your own.  An option that you may want to consider for Rome, which was offered on our cruise ship (Royal Caribbean) was a "on your own" tour which was essentially a two way bus ride to/from Rome and they dropped you at a location where they would pick you up at a designated time.

Here's a couple web sites for Rome tours:  http://www.vatican-tours.com/?gclid=COCt...

http://www.limousineserviceinromeitaly.c...

http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/z-Info/M...

If you stop in Naples and/or Florence you will fare better getting tours after you get off the ship.  Particularly in Naples to go to Pompeii.  Our first stop in Italy was Florence/Pisa and there were lots of tours available.  Here's a web site for Florence:  http://www.italyguides.it/us/florence/fl...

The port for Athens is about 20 miles from the city and when we were there there were not many tour operators available.  You could get a taxi to go to some attractions.  We went to the Acropolis and also did a city tour.  I liked the Acropolis part but there was not much else of note to see n the city.

If you go to the Greek isles of Santorini and Mykonos you don't even need to do tours.  In both places you can get off the ship and roam on your own, or take a taxi.  We did a tour on Santorini that included a stop at a winery but we could have skipped the tour all together and just walked around the port city.

Our cruise went to Kusadari (Ephesus) turkey and not Izmir and there were taxis there for tours.  But we did a bus tour from the ship to Ephesus which was great.

If you are going to do your own you may do best to book online so you know exactly how much and when and where to meet the tour operator.  I have done that for tours in Europe.

Answer 2

Yes and they are very cheap